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Belgium, Luxemburg, France, Switzerland, Summer 2018

Well, here goes nothing. It’s been a little over a year since I’ve been in Europe so I’m ready for something different after several very long road trips in North America over the last 13 months. If all goes as planned, I anticipate spending about five weeks in Belgium with likely short forays into Luxemburg, Germany, and Netherland, then head to Paris for a few days at the beginning of September to meet my brother and sister-in-law before heading southeast to the Alps to hike the Alpine Haute Route from Chamonix to Zermatt. Depending on whether there’s any pressing reason to return home, I may spend more time in Switzerland and then go to Lyon and Burgundy in France. Belgium is a place I have been before because my mother is from the country, but I would like to explore it in greater depth, including going to Brussels and Wallonia, the French-speaking part of the country. I’ve thought for many years about spending a significant amount of time in Belgium, even entertained the thought of basing myself there for a while to research an idea for a book on Flemish folk history and traditions. I may end up never doing anything like that, but the Internet research and reading for the idea increased my knowledge about the country and whet my appetite to see more of it. So, yes, it is possible to spend over a month in a very small country and not run out of things to do. While a trip to Belgium has been on my mind for seven or eight years, hiking the Alpine Haute Route along with some more travel in France and Switzerland has been seriously on my mind for at least two. I had considered doing the trip around the same time of year in 2016 but decided against it when my mother went of hospice care. Little did I know then that she’d be discharged from it after four months and still be alive two years later. I suppose it’s a nota bad thing when you’ve essentially been planning a trip for two years before you finally get to do it rather than head off spontaneously without much planning. The Alpine Haute Route itself is about a two-week trek, but I’m planning for some sightseeing at both ends of it. As best I can tell, September should still have quite good weather but without crowds in the mountain huts since the European summer holidays will be over already. France is a big country by European standards and one I haven’t seen that much of outside of Paris. The plan is to tackle parts of it over multiple trips concentrating on a few regions at a time. The Burgundy region is the one I’m targeting for this trip if I have time after Switzerland, along with Lyon, France’s second largest city and the gastronomic capital of the world.
Planned Dates
2018-07-24 to 2018-09-27
Countries
6
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